One of the most frequently heard claims from the Obama administration is that Obamacare is responsible for insuring 20 million adults who were previously uninsured. But Heritage Foundation research shows the administration’s figure is off by a few million.
The Department of Health and Human Services claims that 20 million people have gained health coverage since the enactment of Obamacare in 2010 through early 2016.
Of those people, 2.3 million are said to be young adults (ages 19 to 25) that gained coverage between 2010 and 2013 as a result of the Obamacare provision allowing them to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26.
The remaining 17.7 million people gained health insurance from Obamacare’s first open enrollment period between October 2013 and early 2016.
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However, it is important to note that the administration’s coverage estimates are based on survey data rather than calculating the actual change in coverage in different markets. Though surveys can provide useful information, they are not as precise as using enrollment data taken directly from insurance companies.
A recent analysis by The Heritage Foundation’s Edmund Haislmaier and Drew Gonshorowski uses the more accurate method, taking actual enrollment data from Medicaid and private insurance companies to assess the impact Obamacare has had on coverage.
The researchers found that just over 14 million people gained coverage from the end of 2013 to the end of 2015. Of those 14 million, 11.8 million gained their insurance through Medicaid and 2.2 million through private coverage.
The report provides several key takeaways from the first two years of Obamacare’s full implementation:
- Private market growth has been slow.
Enrollment in the individual market increased by 5.9 million and the self-insured employer market grew by 3.9 million. However, these increases were largely offset by an enrollment drop of 7.6 million people in fully insured employer group plans. Overall, the net gain in private market coverage was only 2.3 million people.
- Medicaid enrollment has surged.
In states that adopted Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, enrollment surged by 10.4 million. However, Medicaid enrollment also rose by 1.4 million in states that didn’t expand their Medicaid programs. Overall, enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program accounts for 84 percent of the total coverage gains from Obamacare since 2014.
- Obamacare’s impact is diminishing.
Though only two full years of data are available, Obamacare appears to be having less of an impact on both private and public insurance markets after its first year of implementation.
For example, while the individual market saw an upsurge of 40 percent in 2014 (the first year of Obamacare’s implementation), it drastically slowed in 2015, with enrollment growth of just 7 percent.
Likewise, the law seems to be having less impact on the fully insured employer group market. In 2014, enrollment in that sector fell by 11 percent, but in 2015, it nearly broke even, decreasing by only 2 percent. Medicaid enrollment also experienced a similar trend. In states that expanded, enrollment increased 23 percent in 2014 but slowed to 4 percent growth in 2015.
Understanding exactly how Obamacare has affected health coverage is important as Congress works to repeal Obamacare and replace it with market-based reforms in the coming months.
As confusing as finding the true number of New enrollments, and not the number of Forced by mandate enrollments, how in the hell can we ever find out the number of tax paying Americans that lost their insurance because of the ACA and no longer have insurance.
Somehow certain animals are more equal than others.
My wife is currently in Peru to have her gall bladder removed. When insurance deductibles climbed to over $10,000 (and the premiums more!) I no longer considered the health care system in the US to be “first world.” The care in Peru is unreal with a doctor actually spending lots of time with you, and for a fraction of the cost. The entire surgery with an overnight stay is less than $3,500 US dollars. Rather than wait for the free option (she’s a Peruvian citizen,) we just went ahead and scheduled at our convenience in a well known clinic. Surgery was scheduled within 3 days! We’re being robbed blind here in the States…
Obamacare has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with socialist wealth redistribution. They’ve got to jack up the premiums on standard health plans and demand outrageous deductibles (so they almost never have to pay out) in order to shift all the money you’re paying to fund the massive 84% of the freebee Medicaid plans. That’s it. You’re paying for someone else’s surgery, doctor’s visits and prescriptions in full while you get the “privilege” of paying cash for all those things for yourself! I don’t need to pay a third party to end up paying cash at the doctor myself. Premiums are only going to get worse as they continue to stuff our countries with forced, massive amounts of Third World immigrants, who are eligible for Medicaid and countless other benefits the minute they set foot on American soil. Never mind the fact that, as foreigners, they’ve paid nothing into the system. Eventually, there won’t be enough payers to support all the freebee plans and the entire Obamacare house of cards will collapse, which is exactly what it was designed to do. That’s when socialized, single-payer, government run, medicine will be instituted as the “solution” because it’s “so much simpler” and “FREE” for everyone…and because that was the endgame all along. Then, let the medication rationing and year-long waits to see specialists or have surgeries begin.
This mirrors an article in the Federalist to a “T”…….truth be told I refused o-clown care last year at $900 a month and a $10K deductible (Age 63). I went with a temp policy (360 day) at $384 a month and a $10k deductible. This year it was a 6 month for $365 and $10K. Terminate with extreme prejudice………GO back to the drawing board….
If you rely upon government for your health and security, you will get less health and security and be poorer for it.
By “coverage” they mean a $6000 deductible and 50% coinsurance.